I am currently a senior student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. I will be graduating on May 21, 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Technology, Cum Laude. I also work part-time at Bath and Body Works in Pecanland Mall. I plan to restart taking classes in June and continue on through next spring. I will begin the application process to Physician Assistant School at LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport this summer also. I lack about 23 credit hours before I am eligible to apply, so that is why I will be at ULM for about another year after I graduate. During that year, I hope to get at least a PRN job at one of the local hospitals as a Radiologic Technologist. I still have a passion for radiology. I have already decided that if I am not accepted to PA school on my first try, I will either try again, apply to Radiology Assistant School, or maybe go back to get more pre-requisites for medical school. I feel like as a Physician Assistant, I can do whatever I become interested in while I am in school. I’ll probably do something along the lines of Orthopedics. I would be okay if I worked in a clinic, but if I got the chance to work under a surgeon in a hospital, I would probably choose that. As I said earlier, if it does not work out for me to go to PA school, I will apply to Radiology Assistant School. This is something that is not practiced in Louisiana, and I am okay with that. I have been in Louisiana for 22 years; I think that there are bigger and better places out there for me. The school I am looking at for that is in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. With that degree, I could work under a radiologist, and perform exams just like a radiologist would. I would have the same freedom as a PA; I would be able to do whatever the physician would allow me to do. I do want a family someday. I think that the flexibility of a Physician’s Assistant would allow me to balance work and a family life. There are some girls that are cut out for the stay at home mother type of lifestyle, but that is not me, by any means. I want to work and have a family.
At this point in my life, I am young, recently out of a fairly serious relationship, and have nothing really holding me to this area permanently. I guess I am hoping that in the next few years I meet someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with, but I am not rushing it, by any means. I want at least two kids, preferably three. I am supposed to have twins; at least, that’s what I am told. I want to live within an 8 hour drive of my mom and my husband’s parents. But I want to live closer to my sister. She is one of my best friends. I want to spend time traveling. I want to go to New York, Boston, Vegas (but I have to go there after I get married, otherwise I will come back with a husband from God knows where), and Seattle. There are places I have already been that I would love to go back to. I also want to go to Europe. There are a ton of places over there I would love to go. I even think I want to go to Africa for a little while. That is something I have thought about a lot, actually, going to Africa to provide health care for people that are really sick, and truly cannot afford it. We will see about that one. I want a career, but I mostly just want to help people.
Regardless, I want to be successful. I know that at the end of the day, my friends are the best, my family is my support, and my education is priceless. My grandfather always tells me, “Honey, get as far as you can in your education, because that’s one thing they’ll never take away from you”. That is something I always think about when I think about my future.
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It's funny how your whole life can change in what feels like an instant. You sit there and think about planning your future with someone else one day, and the next week, you're sitting in your apartment discussing how much you really want to be in that relationship anymore. I blame no one but myself. Seriously. People change. It's part of life. I'm not the same person now that I was at 18. And all of you should be saying "Praise Jesus."
Last week, I had a talk with one of my good friends from high school, and we were talking about middle and high school (we've known each other since we were 4, so I think it's safe to say that we go back) and we both were forced to grow up early in life due to situations life threw at us. My parents got divorced, hers just kind of went nuts. Anyway, up until I started college, I was a truly angry person. Honestly. I'm surprised I had any friends. I was so aggressive, and so tough, and oh so very defensive. About everything. I'd like to say that senior year I improved, but I actually got into two fights that year, bringing my grand total up to three. One was on the soccer field with a freshmen boy that thought he was going to tell a Captain of his varsity girls' team (me) what to do, and pushed me. So I shoved him to the ground. Never had any problems out of him toward the rest of the girls as long as I was around. The second happened during a Powder Puff football game. Girl grabbed my jersey and thought she was going to sling me to the ground (keep in mind I was never the smallest girl AND I had broken my femur my Junior year and put on a good 60 pounds), so when she didn't succeed, I punched her. The year before, there was a fight that didn't involve me, and the girls got kicked out. I guess no one saw us.
Anyway. After my freshmen year of college, I had this whole new perspective on life. I was happier to be alive. I had given up being angry, because I couldn't change what I was angry about. being angry wouldn't make my dad come back. Being angry wouldn't make my Memaw be alive again (she died during finals week of my first semester). And that summer, I went to a wonderful camp in Texas. I met someone that summer I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. We were together from the middle of that summer for 2 years and seven months, to the day. In camp relationship years, that is pretty much forever. Couples from that camp that started dating after us were getting married before he and I broke up. Which made me incredibly impatient. But I had to realize, we weren't the typical couple. We were the long distance, in it to win it kind of couple. Which, in my mind, made us better than every one else. Some couples had the nerve to call us a fake couple. To which I replied that they were a weak couple. Both of us were (are) incredibly headstrong, and knew what we wanted and we wanted to be together. And by God, and God alone, we went through thick and thin together. But when the time came for it to be over, it wasn't the way that I thought it would be. With my aggressive and defensive past, I figured it would be some kind of knock-down, drag-out, yell, fight, scream, throw stuff kind of break up. But it wasn't. It was peaceful. It was mature. It made me feel more like a grown up than all the previous wedding talk could've ever made me feel. It was two separate discussions. It wasn't any kind of irrational reasoning. We actually talked about it, stopped talking about it, went to eat dinner and hung out with some friends like nothing had ever happened. The next morning, we talked about it some more, and he left. He never asked for anything back. The only things we took/got back from each other were actual personal items that had been kept (read: left) at each other's apartments. All he took was a tennis racket, and all I asked for was a single flip flop and he found a t-shirt of mine at his place, which he eventually mailed back to me. Like I said, I felt mature. I was okay. Strangely okay. Sure, telling people was the hardest part, but that's because I've always been concerned with what people thought of me. We had accumulated a ton of mutual friends over the period that we were together. And apparently, each of us thought the other would tell them, so a lot of people found out about it the hard way. Yeah, that's right. Facebook.
Anyway. That's enough about that. I'm graduating soon. Whoooo hoooooo! Then it's back to school in June! :) Let's do this.
love. you. and your gift for words.
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